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“You destroyed Praxus!” Prowl stared in horror at the ruins laid out before him.
“I did not!”
“Jazz! There's not a single building left standing!” Prowls horror faded and was quickly replaced with anger.
Jazz wilted. “I didn't mean to! I was just practicing my turns.”
Prowl glared at him, his winglets trembling with held in anger. “I spent over a vorn building that and you destroyed it in under a click.”
“I''ll help you rebuild it.” Jazz hurried to offer.
“Look at it! There's no way to fix it! Watch where your going next time.” The youngling turned and marched off, anger still radiating from the mechlings frame.
Jazz watched his friend walk away, blinking to clear his optics of the cleaner that had started to well up. He gave a sigh and turned back to the mess on the floor. It had once been a rather large table with a diorama of Praxus on it. Prowl had been working on building the city for as long as he could remember. Now the table was laying on the floor, its legs shattered, and the city itself had been completely destroyed. He let his shoulders droop as he knelt beside the mess. Pulling a box over he began to clean up the pieces of the city. Hoping with all his spark that Prowl would be able to forgive him eventually.
4 millenia and several hundred vorns later:
Jazz placed the last crystal on the table carefully and adjusted it so that it sat just right. He straightened and stretched, surprised that he had been there long enough for his joints to stiffen. He gave a grin of satisfaction as he inspected the diorama of Praxus. It had taken hundreds of vorns, not counting the millenia spent in stasis, to rebuild it. He'd had to find pieces that had went missing, remake others that had been too shattered to fix and locate pictures and vids of Praxus to work with. But it was finally done. And he couldn't wait to show Prowl.
It had started out as a younglings building set and he had rebuilt it. But with the fall of the actual city, he had decided to put more effort into the diorama and had ended up practically rebuilding it from the bottom up. It was as identical to the original city as he could make it. Tall towers and ornate buildings all situated to promote beauty and harmony. In the center were the Crystal Gardens, designed with actual pieces of crystal taken from the ruins of the original gardens. They were no longer vibrant and alive, but they were still impressive. And yet as he studied the cityscape, he could tell something was missing.
With a snap of his fingers, the saboteur exited the small room and locked the door. The room was actually a closed off part of his office with a security system that not even the Prime could access. Many a mech had labeled it as the Room of Doom, although he still had no clear idea as to why they did so.
A quick trip to Wheeljack's lab and he was back in the tiny room, leaning over the table. Using a wireless connection he connected the modulator he had acquired into the computer system in his outer office. It took him nearly a joor to program it and when he was finally done, he activated it. Settling back into his chair with a delighted grin on his faceplates, he watched the changes the modulator introduced to the mini-city. Now satisfied that it was indeed complete, he shut off the modulator and covered the city with a large cloth. Exiting the room he locked it once more and headed off to find his bonded.
It wasn't that hard to locate Prowl. All he had to do was follow the pull on his spark and it led him straight to his mate. Who, of course, just had to be in a meeting with the Prime. Feeling disappointed that he couldn't drag Prowl out of there, he settled in a nearby chair to pout as he half listened in as they argued the merits of allowing a resident human ambassador on the Ark. As he grumpily sulked, Jazz became aware of Prowls questioning prods at the bond between their sparks. He smirked at his mate and pulsed reassurance back.
As soon as the meeting ended however, Jazz bounced to his feet and latched onto a startled Prowl and practically drug the mech back to his office. The confused amusement coming from the tactician at being taken to Jazz's office instead of his own was apparent for a few clicks before it was squashed by instant desire as the TIC pulled him close and kissed him.
“Jazz?” Prowls voice whispered huskily as his mate pulled away.
“Shhhhh. I have a surprise for you, but I want you to offline your optics first.” Jazz leaned against Prowl's chassis and pressed a finger over his lips as he spoke.
“Why-?”
“Trust me?” Jazz grinned slightly, thought it was betrayed by a slight nervousness over the bond.
Prowl leaned in for another kiss. “Always.”
Jazz watched with a small smile as his optics darkened and cycled off completely. As they did though, the ever sensitive doorwings flared and lifted to compensate automatically. Reaching out he brushed a finger along the edge of the closest and smirked when it trembled.
“Lower these behind your back. No peeking.”
His laughed softly as a disgruntled Prowl lowered the offending wings. Stepping away from his mate he moved to the door of the little room and swiftly unlocked it. A moment later he was back at Prowls side and gently catching a hold of his arm to draw him forward. The room was barely large enough to hold the two of them and the table, but they could manage. After shutting the door, Jazz removed the cover from the table. He turned to his mate anxiously. This could either be a good thing or it could bring up memories best left buried. He hoped it would be the first and not the latter.
“You can look now.” Jazz voice was soft, barely above a whisper.
Prowls optics brightened and lit up, whirring and adjusting before focusing on the table. He froze and stared in shock at the city. Jazz reached out and softly touched the tallest tower causing lights to flicker on all over the city. Buildings lit up, streetlights cast soft glows over the streets and the crystals began to flicker and glow with random colored lights. He touched the hidden button again and a soft hum started from the holographic modulator he had added that morning. Almost instantly the city came alive. Holographic mechs and femmes of all ages and frame types appeared. There were a majority of Praxians of course, but there were also frame types from all over Cybertron present.
Prowl continued to stare transfixed at the city, watching as Aerials swooped over the city and looped around the towering buildings. Black and white Enforcers patrolled the streets. Mechs and femmes moved about in root mode and in vehicle mode throughout the city. His gaze caught on the prominent features of the Rubidium Crystal Track and its 10 levels of race tracks, complete even with Cybertronians in hover car mode racing around the tracks. Almost automatically his optics sought out and found the Velocity Loop track. It was smaller and frequented more often by those who wished to escape the tourist traps and race for the fun of it. The whole city was amazing and he slowly raised his optics to stare at his mate.
“You hate it don’t you?” Jazz whispered when Prowl failed to say anything.
Prowl reached out and pulled an unresisting Jazz into his arms and kissed him thoroughly, smirking as he pulled away and left Jazz staring dazedly at him.
“It's amazing, I can't believe you went to that much trouble. What made you build it?” He leaned back in and pressed a kiss to an audial, causing Jazz to shiver.
“Remember that building set I destroyed when we were younglings? Originally I just rebuilt that and planned on giving it to you. But then the actual city was destroyed and I found those crystals and it just seemed a waste to not use them, but the building set was rather plain. I wanted to capture the city's beauty for you. So I rebuilt it. Took ages to find the stuff for it.” Jazz nuzzled his helm into his mates neck as he spoke.
“Thank you, love. I think it should be shared though. I think it would be a great reminder for the crew of what we are fighting for. Would you mind?” He stroked his palms down Jazz's back and pulled the mech even tighter against him.
“Of course not.” He smiled and lifted for a kiss and they were the last words spoken for quite some time.
Several days later, mechs in the rec room were gathered around the table holding the miniature city. A clear case had been added to protect it. Prowl had requested it, stating that he didn’t want a repeat performance of Jazz's original accident. An energy efficient battery had been hidden amongst the buildings to power the lights and holograms. The last finishing touch had been a small plaque added at the entrance of the city.
It read:
City: Praxus
Model designed and built by: Jazz
Owner: Prowl
Warning: Touch and Die.